NUCLEAR  IRAN: The Birth of an Atomic State

 by DAVID PATRIKARAKOS, I.B.Tauris, 340pp, £25 ISBN: 978-1780761251

 This review by Malcolm Bailey was first published in Green World GW80 Spring 2013.

 David Patrikarakos’ book is a highly readable, accessible and well-researched account of the nuclear history of Iran, from the early days of the Shah, through the Islamic Republic, to the present major international confrontation. This is a serious analysis of the intertwined relationship of the scientific, technological and geopolitical aspects of nuclear power and nuclear weapons developments in Iran.

   The Shah’s obsession with nuclear power for Iran derived from his belief that it was an essential route to a modern state, a totem of modernity.  It meant personal and national prestige. He courted the West to develop Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.  Nuclear power would leave more of Iran’s oil to sell abroad, bring in revenue, and serve a rapidly growing population.
    In 1979 the Islamic Republic swiftly reversed the Shah’s interest in nuclear power. The new regime saw it as part of ‘Westoxification’, a conspiracy to make Iran dependent technologically on the West. Nuclear Iran traces the events of the war with Iraq, and the Islamic Republic’s eventual return to a nuclear programme as a positive for Iran’s ‘nuclear nationalism’.

   Patrikarakos traces the unenviable monitoring role of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as suspicions grew that the Islamic Republic was interested as much in achieving a nuclear weapon as in nuclear power. His conclusion is that Iran probably desires the capability for a nuclear weapon, but not the bomb itself.   
   I note that discussion of green issues, climate change and peak oil gets lost in the nuclear realpolitik, as does Chernobyl and Fukushima. There is enough nuclear science for non-technical readers, possibly insufficient history for historians. Nuclear Iran is an excellent read, and I strongly recommend this book.